20100124
press tv

Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood has condemned the deadly sectarian violence between Muslims and Christians that has plunged central Nigeria into chaos.

In a Saturday statement, Egypt's Brethren censured the recent clashes between Muslims and Christians in the central Nigerian town of Jos and demanded a swift end to the bloodshed.

"We ask the Organization of the Islamic Conference and the African Union to intervene to stop such massacres of innocent people... and investigate the causes behind these clashes," the group's leader, Mohammed Badie, said.

"We want to remind the Nigerian people of the Muslim and Christian religious values that call for tolerance, coexistence and solidarity to confront the dangers facing Nigeria as poverty, unemployment and oppression," the statement went on to read.

Conflict broke out between Christians and Muslims last Sunday after Christian youth in the central state of Plateau protested the building of a mosque in Jos.

The violence later spread to nearby towns and villages where hundreds of people lost their lives.

Human Rights Watch says most of the people killed in these clashes have been Muslims.

The rights group says at least 364 Muslims have died in Jos as of Friday. Among the dead are 150 bodies recovered from the wells and sewage-pits of a village near the city.

Officials say some 60 other people still remain unaccounted for.

Nigerian security forces imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew following the incident.

Sectarian violence is reportedly common in the country. An estimated 400 people were killed in November 2008 in another incident of violence between Muslims and Christians.